I don't usually say that, do I? Let's just, Romans chapter 12, verse number 1 and 2, as we read, Romans 12, 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Let's pray. Pray for help tonight. Pray for leadership and guidance. I plead the blood asking just your will be done. Help us to see truth, get hold of truth, preach truth and practice truth. We'll thank you for it. I pray for our people that you'll just do for them that that's needed. I know that there's a lot of sickness going around and many was mentioned tonight, sick. I pray you just touch them and help them and lift them up and touch them and give them the grace they need. And then for these who've lost their loved ones, I pray for those families that you'd touch them and give them grace. I pray for all the requests that was made tonight, spoken and unspoken, I lift them to you again. just asking that you'd grant in accordance to your will and way. I want to thank you for answered prayer this week, and I'm looking forward to you answering our prayers and the fact that we sure do need you to meet and manifest yourself in this place. I long for the day that we can say, he's heard, he's answered. and we praise him for that, praise you for that, and we'll thank you for it. Now, I pray for help tonight, give us the recall we need, let no one quench your spirit, help the seed to fall on good ground, and we'll thank you for all you do and praise you for it, and be careful to give you the glory for it, but we ask it all in Jesus' name, for his sake we do pray, amen. You may be seated. We're dealing with a series we picked back up in this series last week on the will of God. Because you see, Paul wrote that in the book of Hebrews that the saints, at least the professing ones, would do the will of God. The will of God. And the word do means to pursue a course of action towards doing what the will of God is for every man's life. Now it's hard sometimes to know what God's will is for your life as far as the unwritten will is in your life. But we've studied some of the past weeks and past time about the written will of God. You see the Bible's got some things laid out that God said this is the will of God for you. And it's the will of God for everyone, even the saved. And it's his will that you be saved. That's the most important one, that he's not willing any should perish, but all come to repentance. So it's his will that you be saved. He wills that. I mean, he desires that's what I'm saying. That's why he went to Calvary. But the thing about it is, if we're not willing to find the will of God in our lives that's written, and if we're not willing to walk in the will of God that we do know in our lives that's written down, then we'll probably never really fulfill the unwritten will of God for our lives in the minute degree. and we need to find the will of God, because that's important. Listen, you're safe in the will of God. If it's in foreign soil, in the middle of like going on in Kenya, all those battles, if you're in the will of God, you're safe there. You're safe anywhere where you're in the will of God. Doesn't mean that you might not die, because you might die, but you're still safe. If you're in the will of God, it'll be okay. In other words, because he's in control. But now when we think about written will and the unwritten will. I mean, we know it's God's will for you to serve the Lord, and I think you know it, I hope you know that, but where is not written in the book. It does not say any verse of scripture, not even in Hezekiah, all right, that Edgar Lee Paschal is supposed to be at New Hope Baptist Church, okay? You understand what I'm saying? There's some things in your life you just don't know, and it takes finding that unwritten will of God for your life, but if you're willing to walk walk in the written will as much as you can and desire to have the unwritten will of God in your life that you'd be in that and it's right in the smack dab center of it, then you'll find it somewhere along the way. But if you don't do that, you sure won't find the will of God in your life. So when we're thinking about the written will of God and the unwritten will of God, you need to pursue a course of action to find the will of God for your life. That's God's desire. That's Paul's desire for the saints. That's my desire for myself and my desire for you, that you find the will of God. Now, Paul said this in Philippians chapter one, verse number 10. As he said here, he's praying for those in the church at Philippi, which was a Gentile church, but he's praying for them there. And he said, he's praying that ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. Now notice that little phrase. I'm praying for you, saints at Philippi, and it's written to the saints, that you may approve that which is the things that are excellent. In other words, the word excellent there means to be of the best value. You see, sometimes we want to divide things up and say, well, I want to know what's good and better. But Paul wants you to know what's best, okay? What's better and best, okay? There's another word, the excellent. The excellent things, in other words. Now, he didn't pray for them that they, and by the way, the word excellent means to be of the best value. Now, Paul didn't pray for the saints at Philippi to know right from wrong. to find what's right and what's wrong. Why did he do that? Well, you say we need to do that. Well, when you get to a certain place, it's not knowing what's right and wrong. If you're saved, God's going to show you what's right. In fact, you should have already been taught in those areas. and you know the will of God's not to do wrong, you automatically know that, it's written down for us in that sense. And Paul said this as he wrote in Romans chapter 2 verse number 18, and he's writing to the Jews there, he's speaking about the Jews. in context where he said to the Jews there in Romans 2.18, and he says that you knowest his will and approvest the things that are more excellent being instructed out of the law. In other words, Paul said to the Jews that he's mentioning about, they know. They know something. They even know those excellent things. They know what's right and wrong for sure. They knew the difference. In other words, they knew the written will of God because the Bible said in Romans 3.20, that they had the oracles of God committed to them. He said there, how about the advantage that the Jew had? Verse one of chapter three, he said, much every way, chiefly, because unto them were committed the oracles of God. And you say, well, that means they've got more advantage than the Gentiles. Well, in that sense, they did, but God wanted the Gentiles to come in through the Jews and get in on the things of God, but he also said this about the Gentiles. Now, in the book of Romans, chapter two, Verse number 14 and 15, he said, For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness in their thoughts, the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. That's the reason people are religious. That's the reason they offer sacrifices to idols. There's something inside that's already moved in them, and he said they know something. Folks, I want to tell you, people may claim to be ignorant, in a sense, and they may be ignorant book-wise, but they still know some right from wrong. I mean, you stop and think a minute, amen? They know right from wrong, Jew or Gentile, because God said he put it inside them. The Jews had the oracles of the word of God, but he said to these, Paul wrote to the Philippians, he said, I'm praying for you that you may approve that which is excellent, that which is of the best value. not what right and wrong, but something that's superior to all that. In other words, what he's really talking about, and by the way, the word approve means to test anything with the expectation of finding it good. To test it, to see if it's worthy to be received or not, to establish without doubt that what the written will is. In other words, for your life, test it, put it to test. Did not the Lord say through Paul in Acts 17, 11, I believe it was, were that the Bereans were more noble than they in Thessalonica in that they searched the scriptures daily, whether these things were so or not? In other words, you put it to test. You put it to test with a guideline, the plumb line, to see if it falls where it needs to fall. And in other words, approved, established without any doubt, to test it so that you might whether to take it in or not. And he said, I'm praying for you that you may know that. In other words, that you may know the written will of God for your life, but that you also may know the unwritten will of God for your life. I believe is what he's trying to tell us there at that point. Now the word approved, In Philippians chapter 1 verse number 10 is the same Greek word, a translated prove in Romans chapter 12 verse number 2 that we read, where he said, be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove. The word prove is the same as where Paul prayed for them to approve that which is excellent. And he said, I'm writing to you saints in Rome that you may establish without any doubt what is the unwritten will of God for your life. He goes on to say that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God for your life. In other words, that's more than the written will, that's the unwritten will of God for your lives. Now you go back and study in the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel made this statement, at least God did in Ezekiel in chapter 22, verse number 30, as he said this, and I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it. But the sad part was, he said, I found none. And he had to destroy the land for it. But he's looking for somebody to find the gap to stand in. Now, you know what a gap is. I mean, back when I grew up on the farm, my dad most of the time had gates made out of cypress and there's light. and they lasted, amen, they wasn't out old, because I couldn't have opened them. But sometimes you run up on a place where you've got a gap, that's just a barbed wire, and you lay it down and it gets tangled up and it just won't work just like it ought to. Y'all know what I'm talking about, if you've been around on, but anyway, it means an opening in the fence, okay, whether you put a gate or a gap. He said, I'm looking for somebody to stand in a gap that I want you in, and that gap has got to be your perfect, the perfect will of God for your life. And what you're there for is to really ward off people that's, to be a roadblock, to be, as Brother Percy Ray would preach a message, red lights on the way to hell, to let people know you need to stop. Don't come this way. Don't go that way, because that way's nothing but a ravine, or it's danger, it's hell is what it amounts to. So you're put there to do your best to try to ward off people. Now, I remember as a boy, Daddy sometimes would put me in what we called them gates, we didn't call them gaps, but he'd put me there and them cows scared me sometimes. I wasn't big enough to ever hit them off. And then he'd fuss at me for letting them by, you know. But sometimes he'd say, let this one by, but not that one. Let this one by, but not that one. Y'all know what I'm talking about. And you know sometimes it puts you in fear as you stand there in that gate or that gap and you're trying to do what you need to do and you know that something may get by that you don't want to get by. Or you head the wrong one the wrong way. There's a spiritual message in that, amen. There's people going, they're going to get by you sometimes. The best you do, doing the best you can, they're going to determine maybe to bunch up and run over you like cows will sometimes, especially hogs, okay, and run over you to get through the gap. But you see, God didn't call you to be successful. He calls you to be faithful. and you've got to find where your gap is. If you found your gap in life, you say, but I'm not saved. Well, the gap, as far as your will, the will, the written will is that God wants you to be saved. But then even while you're seeking him and while you're going, there's still some things God wants you to stand in the gap. You got a wife, you got a husband, you got children. There's some things you need to stand for and stand against in that gap. Let some things through, but keep some things from going through, okay, in that gap. And so, now where is that gap in your life? That's the unwritten will of God for your life that you need to know where it's at. Now, you realize what he said there in Romans chapter 12, verse number 2. He said, be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove established without any doubt what is the what? The good, the acceptable, and the perfect will of God. Spell gap. G-A-P. Good, acceptable, and perfect. When you find the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God, you've got your gap that God wants you to stand in. And you need to find that gap. Good, acceptable, and perfect. Now the word good means profitable, useful. In other words, spiritually speaking, what he's talking about here, the word acceptable speaks of something which is well-tested, well-approved, or satisfactory. It means of extraordinary pleasing. The word perfect means complete in all parts. So therefore, that gap is God's unwritten will for your life. It's not written down in Romans, not written down in any book in the Bible, exactly where your gap is. But if you'll obey the written will and follow the written will and come to the place and search out and seek and find the mind of God, you'll prove, establish without doubt, what's the good, the acceptable and perfect will of God for your life. That's the unwritten will of God and that's where you need to be. I don't care where it's in Timbuktu or Kalamazoo or off the, a monkey's eyebrow, or devil's elbow, or possum trot, amen? You see, it doesn't matter where it's at if that's what God wants you to do. You see, Philip was in a revival in Samaria, and you'd say, I had a man tell me one time that I needed to go where I could do the most good, where you're having the most numbers, I guess is what he was trying. to say, but that's not so. Philip had to leave Revival, go out to a desert man and speak to the eunuch out in the desert, one man out there. And that was the will of God for Philip. He knew where to go. He stood in his gap. In Revival, he stood in his gap out there. Now, if you won't stand in the gap for one, you won't stand in the gap for a whole bunch, amen? You realize that? I mean, you take a cow coming at you, you might have a little more bravery about you to head back one cow, but if you've got about 20 running at you, you might just get over behind the post and say, let them have it, daddy, you know, in that sense. And so therefore, if you won't stand for one, you won't stand for a bunch. You see the principle of the Ruth principle, remember we said in chapter 2, Ruth took the handful. She was willing to take whatever she could get, whether it was gleaning heads or grains around the field, or heads, or when he reached her parched corn, she took it. She didn't say, well, I want more, I want this, no. She sufficed, put it in her pocket, and wound up getting a whole basket full to carry home. And in chapter 4, she wound up with a granary. If you'll take the handful that God gives you by getting in whatever gap it is, then you'll be able to fill a bigger gap later on, if you please, or God will enable you to do that, just being in the divine, unwritten will of God for your lives. Romans chapter 12 verse number one and two gives a prerequisite for finding that good, the acceptable, and the perfect will of God. Or for finding the unwritten will of God for your life. What is the prerequisite there in Romans chapter 12 verse one and two? Three things. Now we'll deal with one of them possibly tonight. But first of all, he said, surrender your bodies. Secondly, he said, be separated from the world. And thirdly, be spiritually minded. And that's the requirements that you're going to have to move toward if you're going to find the unwritten will of God for your life, or the gap God wants you to stand in. Surrender your body, separate it from the world, and be spiritually minded. So let's look just at the first one tonight, being a surrendering of your bodies. Look at verse 1. What does he say? I beseech you therefore brethren. Now I know he's talking to the saints of God, I understand that. But he's saying brethren, by the mercies of God, he said I beseech you, I beg you that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Now you notice something there? I beseech you therefore. Anytime you find a therefore in the scripture, you need to stop to find out what it's there for, okay? And it's looking back. Now, sometimes it looks back to the previous verses. Sometimes it looks back even further because you see, there's kind of an interjection in the book of Romans, chapter 9, 10, and 11, is an interjection here that deals with the principle of sovereignty. And so really, the therefore, it really points back to chapter 8, where we see the principle there of sanctification. And when we see that there in chapter 8, chapter 8, we find it ties back there. In other words, if you could just leave out Romans 9, 10, and 11 as an interjection and read chapter 8 and go right into chapter 12, you'll see he's wanting you to serve him in the gap that God has for you. Now, in chapter number eight, verse number 31, 33, 35, and 37, there's questions that God asks. In other words, Paul asked some questions there through the inspiration of the Spirit of God, asked them to the saints of God, I know that. But he said in verse 31, what shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He goes on in verse number 33, he says, who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Verse number 35, he said, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or swords? Can anyone take all of the things that you can come against them and separate those that's been saved from the love of God? And he answers that in verse 37, nay, No, in all these things, we're more than conquerors. We're super conquerors in Him, through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, neither death, nor life, nor principalities, nor powers, nor angels, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature. Ten things. None of those ten things, which is just a representative lit, can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. We're secure. We're safe. Now tie that together with chapter 12, verse 1. He said, I beseech you therefore, in view of the fact nobody can lay anything to the charge of God's elect that's gonna count against you if you're really his. Nobody can, in other words, can separate you from the love of God. Therefore, he said, in view of that fact, I beseech you that you surrender your bodies. You surrender your bodies so that you can prove or test it out. Establish without doubt what's the gap you're supposed to be in the will of God. In other words, and that's what he's saying here there, present your bodies. That means surrender your bodies. Now, 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 19 and 20, he says this about the saints of God. He said what? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse number 16, he said, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? The word for temple there is naos, which is the Holy of Holies, where the Holy Spirit lives. And he says, Know ye not that he lives within? and you were bought with a price. Therefore, he said, you need to present your bodies. You need to surrender your bodies in that sense of the word presented. Now here the word present means to offer, to put at one's disposal. It means to place beside. In other words, it's a term for presenting the Levitical sacrifice in the Old Testament and the offering that they had to give. And when they did that, they had to place the offerer, The one who made the offering had to place his offering so as to face the Holy of Holies. In other words, he had to face the Holy of Holies and so doing, he brought it before the Lord because back there is where the Lord met with the people of the high priest in those days. Now, look what he said to present. Present what? A body as a sacrifice. Your body as a sacrifice. Now, what is a sacrifice? Well, a sacrifice is an offering of something to deity, to God in this case, okay? In other words, it means to God. In this case, the believer is to sacrifice his own body. Now, and you know somebody says, oh, that's too much, but what did he say about this in the end of verse 1? This is your reasonable service. It's just our reasonable service to present our bodies, to surrender our bodies to the Lord. In case the believer, in this case, he's talking about sacrificing his own body. Now, oh, you say, but preacher, that's not right. Well, you sometimes got a wrong thinking about what it means, but he said that is our reasonable service, and the word service speaks of priestly service, like the priest of the Old Testament, who performed the sacred service of offering the sacrifices, and in so doing that, he met the requirement of the Levitical law. They had to do it just exactly like God had ordained, and not like he'd give specifics about, when they offered those sacrifices, facing the holy of holies. But here, this is talking about the believer priest, In other words, he's talking about his sacred service. Presenting our bodies is just a reasonable service, he said. Well, somebody said, I'm not a priest. Well, did you know if you're saved, you are a priest. Bible says this in 1 Peter 2, 5 and 9, two times. He said, you also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood. Saints of God is in holy priesthood for what reason? To offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable unto God to God by Jesus Christ. Verse 9 of I Peter 2 said, You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. He said you are to offer spiritual sacrifices. As a priest, you're a believer priest. If you're saved, you're a believer priest. He said you're a spiritual, you're a holy priesthood, you're a royal priesthood. You know what that means? That means that we are holy and we're royal. That's talking about we're a priest, but we're also a king priest, if you please. Now, you go back and study the priesthood in the Bible. In the beginning, whenever man first came on earth, as far as who was the priest. The priest was the one who offered up sacrifices for, first of all, it was the head of the household. The patriarchs were considered to be priests, in other words, and they were the head of the house, was the priest, in other words, until the law was given. And Job chapter 1 verse number 4 and 5, we found an example of this when it said about Job how he was. He said his sons went and feasted in their houses every one his day and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And it was so when the days of their feasting was gone about that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. He offered sacrifices for his family, fulfilling the office of priest for his family. That's the way God intended for it to be in the beginning. And then, of course, that was the way it was until Israel. The law came to Israel, and then Israel was to be a kingdom of priests. The Bible says this in Exodus chapter 19 verse number 5, he said this, 5 and 6, he said, Now therefore, if you obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, he said, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. In other words, he said that was the whole, Israel was to be a kingdom of priests. First the head of the house sold, law came, God shut it up to Israel to be a kingdom of priests, but what happened? What really happened is they violated the law. I mean, Israel violated the law, and what happened? God shut the priestly office up to the tribe of Levi. In other words, his descendants were to be the priests. Now, Jesus, when he died on the cross, he was not after the tribe of Levi, but he was a high priest after the priest of Melchizedek had talked about. But at any rate, whenever he died, what happened? The veil was rent from top to bottom, opening up the Holy of Holies, exposing that to every man to see, in a sense, that walked by. And as a result, he was showing that he, the priesthood, as far as the Levitical priesthood, had ended. No longer is it that way. Now, Jesus was the high priest, and so after Pentecost, or after that time, every priest, he said, you're a royal priesthood, you're a holy priesthood. In other words, every saint of God is a priest today, and priests have responsibilities to offer up sacrifices, okay? That's what it amounts to. And so therefore, that's what we are. If you're saved, you're a priest, and therefore, he said that we need to surrender our bodies. Now, the chief privilege of the priest was to have access to God in the holiest of holy, back there, the holy of holies. And you know something? We have access through our high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's at the right hand of the Father. Hebrews chapter number four, verse number 16, 14 through 16, he said, that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession, for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. He said, for every saint of God we can boldly Come right in the presence of God, in the throne room of God, and have access. That's the privilege that the priest has. But also there's a responsibility of priest, and that responsibility was to offer up sacrifices. Offer up sacrifices. And you and I, if you're saved by the grace of God, you've got a responsibility to offer up sacrifices tonight. You say, what means sacrifices? Well, Hebrews 13, 15, he said this, By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. Not just being thankful, but let a fruit of our lips give thanks to his name. Well, we've got a lot to be thankful for, amen? We've got a lot to be thankful for, and we're not as thankful as we ought to be. And if you're saved, he said, your lips ought to be offering sacrifice. And that's a responsibility you have, of giving thanks to his name. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. He also said in Hebrews chapter 13 verse number 16, but to do good and to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. As a royal priesthood and as a holy priesthood, we are priests and we have a responsibility to communicate, which means to share what God has given us with others. It's not talking about just financial means. And that's part of it. But listen, when you get in the book and find the nugget and come together in the great congregation and something's done you good, and you say, but they already know it. But tell it again. It'll help me. It'll help you. It'll help me if you get saved. I want to tell you what I found today. I found this nugget. I found that nugget. I want to tell you that'll help me. Let me know you're digging. Amen. You say, well, you already know. It don't matter. It don't matter whether we know it or not. thanks of our, fruit of our lips is praise unto God, thanksgiving unto God, and also to communicate, share what God's given us. That's the responsibility of the priest to offer up our sacrifice. I'm talking about now. You and I that are saved by the grace of God have that responsibility. And then in Romans 12, 1, what we read for our text tonight, he said, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Living sacrifice, that means your own body is to be a sacrifice unto the Lord, presented to Him, right in the Holy of Holies, face to face to Him. Now, all priests offered sacrifice, always have, and there are today. And Paul said, What the Lord has done for you, I beg you. What He's protected you with, what He's given you that security, I beg you that you offer up your bodies as a sacrifice. But preacher, that's too much for me. That's just asking too much. Listen, Paul said it's just your reasonable service. And that word reasonable means it's not extreme. It's not beyond reason. It's rational. It's logical, if you please. You say, but oh, preacher, the day of sacrifice is over. Well, the day of dead sacrifices are, but I look out sometimes and see people, and I wonder if they're not still in effect, amen? You realize something, you look at people and you see the way some act, and we sing the national anthem of the Baptist, I shall not be moved, and you sit there, you're offering up dead sacrifice, amen? Some of you don't even sing when we sing, amen? You ought to be trying to do something. You say, but I'm not saved. He put a song in your heart. If you claim the name of Christ, you ought to be saying something, amen? And it wouldn't hurt you to go to bed a little before time, amen? Get in practice a little bit, amen? But at any rate, he said we're to offer a sacrifice, not a dead sacrifice, but a living sacrifice. He said, present your bodies a living sacrifice. Now, living means living in contrast to the slain offerings or the dead sacrifices of the Old Testament time. Alive in Christ. We're alive in Him. And therefore, what should live saints do as priests? Well, as presenting your body, what should you do? Well, you should give a living sacrifice, attend church, amen, just attend church. In other words, it's one thing, Hebrews 10, 25, he said, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another in so much the more as you see the day approaching. He also says study. Bible said in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse number 15, study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Folks, if you don't study, you're not going to come up. I'm not talking about just reading. You need to read, but you need to study too. You need to do that. We've got a lot of books back there to help divide some things up. We try to go back to them a lot of times to find out what it says. You want to know what a verse says, get one of those books down and we try to break it down for you where you can take it. And I can't remember everything I've preached or studied about 10 years ago, 5 years ago. I can't remember. I get it down to yesterday, I probably don't remember some things, okay? Y'all know what I'm talking about, but study. He also says pray, presenting, I'm talking about living sacrifice. Pray, what a living, living in contrast to being slain alive. What do we do? We study, we attend church, we pray. I'm just sort of hitting the surface. But the Bible says, and pray in your closet, Matthew 6, 6, I hear the Lord said this in Matthew, But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou shalt the door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Psalm 91.1, he said, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. It means to spend the night with Him alone, a little while alone with Him somewhere in quiet time, can spend the night through the storm, even if the tornado comes through. In other words, you can have peace under the shadow of the Almighty. And then you pray without ceasing. Not only in the closet, but pray without ceasing. That's what he said in the book of 1 Thessalonians 5, 17, pray without ceasing. That just simply means being in an attitude of prayer. Somebody said, well, you can't be on your knees all the time. That's not what it's talking about. It means to be in an attitude of prayer is what it's talking about. And by the way, prayer is part of the armor of God. If you want to really have some victory, you're going to have to get in prayer. Ephesians 6, 18, listen to what he said, praying always. After he told you to armor with the whole armor of God, he said, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. So what is he saying? Surrender your bodies as a living sacrifice. But it's also, he said there in Romans 12, one, not only living, but a holy sacrifice. The word holy means to set apart, it means to be blameless. It corresponds with the Old Testament word where it said that the sacrifice had to be without blemish. You realize when they put up that animal there in Moses' day, they put him up on the tenth day of the month. and scrutinized him for four days. They had to feel that animal to see if there's any blemish or imperfection in that animal. Jesus was tested for three years of his earthly ministry to see if there's any blemish in him and they found no gout in his mouth. Nothing on the outside, but folks, I'm gonna tell you, that animal had to be slain and that knife had to go down inside the joint and the marrow down inside to see if there's some pocket of infection somewhere. If it was found, it wasn't qualified to be a sacrifice. And he said, present your bodies a holy sacrifice, set apart. In other words, do that. Now you say, well, how do you do that? Paul said, present your body holy. In other words, that means inside and outside. Well, it's not just this bless God attitude that some of the legalistic have of the outside, but it's cleansed first that which is inside that the outside may be clean also. Holy presented, holy inside and outside. How do you do that? Talking right, talking right. That's what comes out of your mouth. Didn't you know that? In other words, that's what comes out of your mouth. What's in your heart? What's on the inside? Mark chapter seven, verse number Verse number 21 and 23 says this, he said, for from within out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murder, stealth, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, all these evil things come from within and defile the man. You see, God wants us to present our bodies living but holy, and if we don't talk right, it's sin. We're not clean on the inside. If we don't talk right, James chapter number three, verse number 10 through 12, he said this, he said, out of the same mouth proceedeth blessings and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries, either of vine figs? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh? In other words, you ought to talk right. If you want to present a holy sacrifice, The talk's got to be right and the dress has got to be right. 1 Timothy 2, 9, what did he say? In like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broaded hair or gold or peril or costly array. In other words, he said in like manner, points back to verse number 8 where he talks about the men to lift up holy hands. Holy hand, not just outside but inside. In other words, without wrath and doubting. In other words, it's talking about dressing right men and women with shamefacedness. The word shamefacedness means bashfulness or modesty. It's talking about dressing modestly is what it means. And he said with sobriety. The word sobriety means soundness of mind. It means sanity. It means some common sense with self-control. with common sense. Man, it's just good sense in dressing is what he's talking about. If you won't present your bodies a holy sacrifice, he said, talk right, dress right, and walk right. Philippians chapter 1 verse number 27, he said this in Philippians 1 27, He said, only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ. The word conversation is not just you talk, it's you walk. It means your manner of living in the old English word for that. And he said, let you walk in such a way and let your manner of life be such that would add to or strengthen the gospel. That's what it means to become a something. And you ever looked at your wife, said, honey, that dress becomes you, amen. Might help us if we do that more, amen. That means that it adds to your beauty and your strength in that sense. And he said, let your manner of living add to or strengthen the gospel as it goes out into a lost and a dying world. Walking right, and then you need to think right. What's your thinking process? Some of you right now, you wouldn't want it put on the screen what you're thinking right now, amen? I mean, I know the devil shoots fiery darts, I understand that, but listen what the Bible said. He said in Philippians chapter four, verse number eight, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. And it just hit my mind, if you're gonna think on these things, you probably don't even need to watch the news about the election results yesterday, amen? And all that they said, you understand, on both sides. I mean, but still, he said you need to think right, walk right, talk right, dress right, and think right. That's offering a holy sacrifice. If we want to find the gap, the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God, we've got to meet the prerequisite or at least be striving to do that. And when we rebel against that, there's something wrong if you claim the name of Christ. Something's wrong, amen, because the Holy Spirit's inside if you're really saved, and he's going to guide you into all truth. And then he also offered that sacrifice, how? Living, holy, acceptable. Three ways there you offer your body, surrender your bodies. Living, holy, acceptable sacrifice. Now, you realize something, God would not accept a sacrifice if it was blemished. Now I know sometimes the priests, they all got in cahoots with the money changers and the sheep market people and they had let them sell blemished sheep and they'd take them in, but God wasn't for that. That's why Jesus cleansed the temple those two times that he cleansed it, because they was doing it wrongly, what they were doing. And as a result, they would sell diseased animals, and this priest said, I'll take it, to get a little kickback from the market, is what he was doing. In other words, that was wrong. God, though, will not accept it. You know, the so-called priest in the Old Testament time may have accepted it, but not God. You know what? Preachers may accept what you do, and may tell you that you're okay and this type of thing, but listen, that's not the one you're gonna have to stand and give an account to one day. You understand? It's not me you've got to give an account to. You're going to have to give an account to God one day. And you realize something, you need to be acceptable. In other words, in the Old Testament time when that high priest went into the Holy of Holies, it's not in the Bible. We do know in the Bible he had pomegranates and bells around the bottom. I don't know, we know that around, that tells about that, but also they tell us according to secular history that they put a rope around their leg because nobody else could enter into that Holy of Holies. So when they went back in there, as they were standing around waiting to see if God was going to accept their sacrifice and roll their sin away one more year at a time, as the priest ministered in the holy place, the bells was ringing as he went on inside the Holy of Holies, back inside the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant is, and he had to go back in there and turn Plum around And as he did, those bells would ring. Someone said that they put a rope on his leg in case God didn't accept the sacrifice. If he didn't do it like God said, he died in there. And they couldn't go in after him until they pulled him out with a rope out from under the curtain. That's not Bible, I understand. But the fact is, that's what has been accepted according to history that happened. Why? Because God required a sacrifice to be acceptable, and if he didn't, the high priest, if he didn't do it just right. He died. I don't know of any record of one ever dying, but that's what God said would happen. I won't tell you, our Lord did everything just right. And he accepted and God accepted his sacrifice and he sat down at the right hand of the Father, but he said, you need to present your bodies an acceptable sacrifice. It's got to be acceptable. In other words, satisfactory or well-pleasing. Now, how do you do that? Confess your sin. Confess your sin, 1 John 1.9. He said if we confess our sin, that means to agree with God about we've sinned, not just made a mistake, but we've sinned and repentance is involved in that to get back where we need to be. But confess that if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all righteousness, unrighteousness, and therefore we're acceptable. as a sacrifice, as a body before God. If we confess our sin, but not only confess, and by the way, you confess the sin of omission, you confess the sin of commission. And you confess three ways, like you sin, you sin privately, personally and publicly. If you sin privately, you confess privately. and it's where it ought to stay. You don't have to tell everybody about it. You don't have to deify for your sin. And if it's personal, you go to the individuals that you've wronged, and you confess to them, and it stays there. It ought not to be carried any further. But if it's publicly, it's going to have to be confessed publicly. And it doesn't mean you've got to give the gory details of it. You can just say I've sinned. But when you confess it, agree with God it's sin, and you confess it publicly, then God has brought you to a place to where you've got an acceptable sacrifice. of a body to present to him. And then also, you not only confess your sin, but you forsake it. Proverbs 28, 13, he said, he that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. You see, He said, if you cover it, now, you'll not prosper. It's not talking about financially. That's not what it's talking about. In other words, if you cover it, you'll not prosper and God might just kill you if you're his. And in fact, if you continue and God puts his finger on it and you say, one more time, and you do it one more time, you're going to have a sin unto death, 1 John 5, 16 talks about. And you might just die like the Old Testament. A priest said that he would do it. You say, but preacher, that's too much to ask from me. No, no, no. The Word of God said that's just your reasonable service. Present your bodies. Surrender your bodies. A must, if you ever want to stand in the gap, God's has for you. In other words, I'm talking about the unwritten will, if you really want that. You're going to have to yield your spirit, soul, and body to him completely. Not only be saved, but say, Lord, I want you to tell me how to dress, how to walk, and how to act. But you see, we don't want that, do we? Our own flesh don't want it. We want to do what we want to do. And the reason many people want to do what they want to do is because they've never, never been changed, never been converted. Amen. And not really his. But he's talking here about his. I want you to present your bodies a living sacrifice wholly. acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And if you'll do that, if you'll do that, and meet the prerequisite. Now, there's surrender your body, separated from the world, and a spiritual mind, spiritually minded. If you'll walk in that and try to fulfill that, you'll find your G-A-P, the gap, your good, the acceptable and perfect will of God. I'm talking about the unwritten will of God for your life. And blessed is that man. Oh, happy is that man. Spiritually prosperous is that man. And may the Lord help us to find the unwritten will of God for our life and pursue a course of action. to get walk in it, and we'll see great things in the days ahead. May the Lord help us. Father, I pray you'd speak to our hearts and help us to be sensitive to you. Lord, do that that's needed in our midst. We don't even know what we need, what needs to be done. We don't even know our own needs many times because our old hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. Lord, there's so many people need to be saved. There's so many need to be drawn. So I pray that you'd help the saints of God to surrender their bodies, to yield themselves, hook, line, and sinkers, the old expression is. hook, line, and sinker to you as their, in other words, a sacrifice, living sacrifice, holy sacrifice, acceptable sacrifice, so that they may find their gap, the good, the acceptable and perfect will of God in their lives and walk therein. and fulfill the purpose of God in their lives. And we'll thank you for what you do. Help us tonight, and let no one quench your spirit. Save some souls, speak to some heart. Lord, do a work in our midst that you might get glory, and we'll praise you for what you do, for we ask it all in Jesus' name. For his sake we do pray. Heads bowed, eyes closed, altars opened. Will you mind the Lord as she plays?